


In the Hands of the Enemy

by Widowfics



Series: Varian and Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Varian (Disney), I'm just a freshman don't judge, It's better that way, Kidnapped, Panic Attacks, Varian Angst (Disney), Varian whump, Whumptober 2020, no.2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Widowfics/pseuds/Widowfics
Summary: He can’t stay here.He doesn’t know how, but he knows he has to get out. He can’t - he can’t take this anymore.So he does the only thing he can think of, not caring how stupid it is. Not caring that the person he screams for couldn’t care less about how he feels. He screams, loud and desperate.“CASSANDRA!!!”orVarian is afraid of heights and small spaces in Cassandra's Revenge; Cass will not be called the villain any longer
Relationships: Cassandra & Varian (Disney: Tangled)
Series: Varian and Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940524
Comments: 14
Kudos: 161
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	In the Hands of the Enemy

**Author's Note:**

> I did not miss a day (almost though 😂) Ok, I'm posting this really fast but I do hope you enjoy it!!! I did NOT have time to edit it:/
> 
> PROMPTS I USED TODAY: kidnapped (kinda)

Varian hadn’t really noticed the cage surrounding him, too caught up in the conflicting emotions in Cass’s eyes at the moment.

Varian hadn’t quite seen the distance under his suspended form, only focusing on Cass’s actions back inside her tower.

But Cass had left, now, and Varian’s alone. Not even Ruddiger is here with him, something he’s not used to. It’s just him, the suffocating walls, and a 300+ foot drop.

So he tries really,  _ really  _ hard not to freak out.

He needs to focus on something. Not escape, certainly not escape. Cass had made it clear that that isn’t going to happen.

Cass…

The memory of the person he had once considered a close friend, whom he had hurt and who had hurt him in return, makes him nauseous. No, he probably shouldn’t think about her either. Not Rapunzel or Eugene or Lance, whom he had failed by giving away the third incantation. Not his raccoon, who may have been hurt back in the Demanitus Chamber. Not his Dad, who must be worried sick…

It’s getting harder to ignore his circumstances. High altitude wind rustles his hair, and everytime he shuffles, his body hits another part of the cage. A sudden memory flashes in his mind, another time when he was trapped in a cage. A time when he was alone. A time when he had been abandoned, and his only drive was hate and revenge.

Varian realizes he can’t breathe. He grips his shirt tightly, trying to force oxygen into his lungs. His head dips, eyes squeezed shut as he chokes on nothing. He tries to clear his mind, going over a breathing exercise his father had once taught after catching him in a nightmare. Inhaling through his nose, he counts to 5, before exhaling from his mouth and counting to 10. He repeats the process, heart beginning to slow down as air enters his system again. Breathe in, count, breathe out, count…

_ “Are you good now, buddy?” _

Varian jumps. Those words...that  _ voice _ , the one too deep in his memories to ever remove. No, no, he can’t think about him now. He has to calm down, has to think about something,  _ anything  _ else. Oh, he wishes someone could be here with him. 

_ I wish Andrew were here with me.  _

Varian physically recoils at his own thoughts. How could he want that? What is wrong with him?    
But...it’s true. Andrew had always helped him when he was freaking out. Andrew had been there for him when no one else was.

_ Andrew tried to kill you! _

Varian screams in frustration, grabbing his head tightly as if he can force the conflicting thoughts out of his mind. He crumples against the bars of his cage, breathing heavily and biting his lip to keep from crying out. 

Then he makes the mistake of opening his eyes. His vision is filled with hundreds of meters of empty air. He instinctively pushes himself away, looking the other direction.

But he’s not met by black rocks. Instead, all he can see is a dark sky, the side of a ship, and a tall, brown-haired man staring down at him, murder in his once friendly green eyes. Varian can feel the harsh grip on his shirt, can taste the bile in his throat from the threat of being dropped, can hear Andrew’s words echo in his ears.

_ Traitors to Saporia pay with their lives.  _

The pain of his head hitting the floor snaps Varian out of the memory. He’s left in silence once again, his chest rising and falling rapidly, tears rolling off his cheeks. Only one thing is left in his mind.

He can’t stay here.

He doesn’t know how, but he knows he  _ has  _ to get out. He can’t - he can’t take this anymore.

So he does the only thing he can think of, not caring how stupid it is. Not caring that the person he screams for couldn’t care less about how he feels. He screams, loud and desperate.

“CASSANDRA!!!”

~

Cass sits on her throne, head held in her hands. The soft pulse of raw power in her chest is the only thing keeping her alert, the rest of her no longer excited in the way everything is turning out.

She just feels so...defeated. And she doesn’t know why, which makes it worse. All is going according to plan. She had gotten the third incantation, gaining complete control over the rocks. She had built her tower meaning Rapunzel is on her way. She had shown Varian that he had no hold over her.

Varian…

She should hate him. He had attacked her and tried to kill her. He had humiliated her by trapping her in a grip only  _ Rapunzel  _ could save her from. And now he had the audacity to join the princess’s side once more, claiming to be the good and vilifying  _ her _ instead. Cass’s reaction is completely justified.

...so why does she feel so bad?

_ Maybe because he’s just a kid? Because he only did all those things to her out of fear? Because they’re more similar than she cares to admit- _

Cass cuts her own thoughts off by standing abruptly from her seat. She stomps down the steps she forms, trying to find distraction in the way she easily uses her powers. She doesn’t need to feel bad - she  _ doesn’t  _ feel bad. Varian had made his wrong choices for petty revenge; her choices are all for her rightful destiny, and there is  _ nothing  _ wrong with that.

They aren’t the same. She’s  _ not  _ the villain.

Right?

“CASSANDRA!!!”

Cass startles at the sudden scream. She immediately recognizes Varian’s voice - oh great, now she’s  _ hearing  _ him in her head?

“CASS!”

No, it’s not in her head. He sounds distant, meaning he’s really screaming from where she’d left him outside. But why? If he’s trying to reason with her again, he’s wasting his time. She doesn’t care about anything he has to say.

“Cassie…”

She decides to check on him, but  _ only  _ because she knows he won’t shut up if she doesn’t (definitely not because the way he calls out, so scared and childlike, actually worries her). No, she doesn’t care about him, and he doesn’t care about her, despite what he may say. Nothing’s going to change that.

She raises her hands, allowing a large crack to open a doorway at the beginning of the extended platform. She steps out into the sunlight, now noticing just how high up they are. She wonders how Varian feels about the distance…

“What do you want?” she calls loud enough for him to hear, pushing away any thought about his feelings.

She walks down the platform easily, not one to be afraid of heights in the first place, and confident in her new abilities should anything go wrong. As she approaches his cage, she can make out large, blue eyes staring back at her. It almost makes her stop in her tracks, a strange feeling rising in her chest.

“What do you want?” she repeats, though not as confident this time. 

“Cass,” he starts quietly, those huge eyes never leaving hers. She can’t help but notice the tremble in his voice. “Please, don’t do this.”

Cass begins to turn around right then. Of course he’s just trying to play good guy again. He had gotten her all worried over something she shouldn’t even be worried about, for  _ this  _ conversation to start up again. Well, he can talk all he wants, stuck out here where she doesn’t have to listen to him.

“No, no! No, Cass, don’t leave!”

She curses herself for turning back around, but she can’t help it. He sounds so...desperate.

Seeing he has her attention once more, he continues.

“Look, I-I won’t try to talk you out of this anymore. I won’t even talk anymore, I swear. Just...please. Please, let m-me out of here. I can’t…”

He looks down briefly, trailing off when he sees the ground below him. He immediately snaps his eyes shut and takes a deep breath.

And suddenly, Cass understands. The signals he’s sending, the way he’s wording things, it all makes sense. She may have left her guard training days far behind, but that doesn’t mean she forgot them.

“...you’re scared of heights.”

He opens his eyes and hugs himself, almost as if he’s embarrassed by her realization.

“Among other things,” is all he says.

Cass presses her lips together, debating his request in her head. She really doesn’t care about him (she doesn’t, ok?). But at the same time, he’s just a kid. She doesn’t want to hurt him; only  _ bad  _ people hurt kids. And it’s obvious Varian is in some sort of pain. 

She brings up her hand slowly, preparing to draw the cage back into her tower. But Varian must not see her, because he keeps talking.

“Please, Cass. Please, I know there’s still good left in you,” he whispers.

Cass’s hand freezes. 

_ What? _

“‘Still good left in me’?” she repeats, not looking at him.

All of her feelings from a few minutes ago flood back into her mind. Suddenly, she doesn’t care if he’s just a kid or if he’s extremely dangerous. For a moment, she doesn’t even care about good or bad. The only thing that matters is that she will  _ not  _ be derogated, and especially not by  _ him _ .

“Good, Varian?!” she shouts, clenching her fist. 

Without warning, the walls of Varian’s small prison recede, leaving no protection to keep him from plummeting to the ground below. He yelps, head whipping around as he takes in the sight.

“What-”

“ _ You  _ attacked the palace,  _ you  _ kidnapped the queen,  _ you  _ took over the kingdom!” Cass continues, built up rage finally bursting through.

The small slab of black rock Varian is desperately trying to stay balanced on, especially with the winds starting to pick up, begins to crumble on her command. Soon there is nowhere for him to shuffle, and he’s trapped under Cass’s fierce glare.

“Cass!” he tries again, voice tight with panic, expression wild with fear.

She doesn’t even hear him, too caught up in her anger.

“ _ You  _ don’t get to talk to me about being  _ good. _ ”

She stomps one foot forward, leaning over towards the terrified boy looking up at her. The sudden motion causes him to flinch back harshly, a big mistake he notices too late. For a terrible second, he’s falling, the chasm of pure air finally swallowing him.

Then a hand grabs his shirt, and it takes a second for Cass to understand it’s her own. She grips it tightly, his small hands instinctively wrapping around hers. Their eyes meet, his wider than should be possible, hers full of brief alarm. A moment passes and neither of them speak or move, the rushing wind the only thing that fills the silence. 

But the moment passes, as well as her fleeting vulnerability; her eyes narrow.

“The ‘good left in me’ is what’s keeping you alive right now,” she snarls. “ _ Don’t  _ forget that.”

She yanks him forward, stepping back to let him catch himself before hitting the floor. A wave of her hand brings up a new cage, and if it’s even smaller than the original one, oh well. She turns on her heel, walking back to her tower without sparing a glance back.

And if she hears muffled crying and shallow breathing behind her, she ignores it.

She’s right, and no one gets to question her anymore.

_ No one _ .

Ok?

**Author's Note:**

> thx for reading;)


End file.
